It was Central Catholic's version of Midnight Madness, except with high school kids, you can't do things at midnight.

Still, the first "Rockne Rally" on Tuesday night, which was designed to get everybody behind what figures to be a special team in a special season, was very festive, very spirited on Tuesday night. I stopped down as part of my 18-in-18 tour which is wrapping up in the next few days.

Jimmy Vaughan, a starting guard for the Vikings and the student council p resident, arranged the whole thing.

The players, JV and varsity, were introduced and there was an intrasquad game and 3-point and halfcourt shooting contests. The band was there, the dance squad was there and so were the cheerleaders. John Rosenberger (pictured above) did a great job on the PA microphone and Rev. Allen J. Hoffa, who is the director of campus ministry, also got everyone fired up.

I even got introduced.

"It went better than I ever expected," Vaughan said. "This was a lot of work, but it was worth it. All students set it up. The teachers didn' have anything to do with it. We had a great turnout. Hopefully, it will be a tradition going forward, not just at Central, but other LVC schools also.

"This was a fun event for the students to come out and see and we hope we have the students at all of our games this year, just like they came out at districts last year. They're the Rockne Rowdies (seen below) and they want The Morning Call fan section of the year.

"I'm excited, and I think everybody is excited for the season. We're ready to get it started."

Coach Dennis Csensits is also excited about the season, which begins with a game on Saturday afternoon against Nazareth at Liberty in the Yasso-Rothrock Christmas City Classic (it's now a 2 p.m. game by the way as the schedule has been changed).

Csensits, who is beginning his second season, was also impressed with the teamwork that went into Tuesday night's event.

"This was a great representation of the community here at Central Catholic and a lot of people came together to put it on," Csensits said. "It was student-organized, student-run and they did a first-class job with it. It was a great way to start the season with a lot of energy and excitement."

CCHS could be the class of the league and area this winter. Let's take a closer look:

CENTRAL CATHOLIC

Coach: Dennis Csensits (second season).

Last year: 24-4, 12-2 LVC (first in West).

Staff: Steve Neikam, Darnell Braswell, Andy Heimbach.

Postseason: Lost to Liberty 53-45 in LVC semifinals; in District 11 3A tournament, beat Tamaqua 77-37, Salisbury 62-48 and Becahi 87-61. In states, beat Northeastern 64-51, lost to Donegal 66-57.

Outlook: All the ingredients are in place for Central to compete for league and district honors and make a run at the area’s first state title since Eddie McCaffrey’s Vikings in 1986. Wagner, a transfer from Souderton, gives CCHS additional interior strength. There’s plenty of depth and talent, but Csensits will have to find the right combination. The team is looking for another perimeter option to emerge.

Quotable: "We are embracing the expectations," Csensits said. "The bottom line is these kids like to play basketball. They like to compete. It has been a fun year the last few years and we just have to take it one day at a time and play the games as they are scheduled and try to reach our full potential. I thought we played well in our scrimmages. We like how everyone is blending together. It's still a work-in-progress and we have to figure out how some of the pieces are going to fit. But we've got some good basketball players and guys who are going to have to fit into some roles. Our job as coaches is to find the right combination and rotation."